Content

Teacher: “Today we’ll consider power, which isn’t bad or good in itself, but can be used in different ways and have different impacts.” Follow slides and refer to notes below each slide.

Materials/Notes

Lesson 8 Slides #2-#9 and notes beneath each slide

Content

Give students the following instructions:

In your journals, write down or draw images reflecting your responses to the following questions.

• Think of a time when you powered over someone. What happened? Who was impacted? Did it affect trust?
• Think of a time when you practiced power with or for someone, or acted in a way that someone felt powerful within. What happened? What was the impact? Did it affect trust?

Materials/Notes

Student journals

Refer to questions on slide #10 or pre-written on white board or poster board

Content

Pair-Share: Turn to your shoulder-partner and take 2 minutes each to answer the following questions: What were the impacts of powering over compared with powering with, for or within? For you, how do these types of power relate to building trust?

Materials/Notes

Refer to questions on slide #11 or pre-written on white board or poster board

Content

Whole class share-back: Students can share their own insights or questions, or partners can share for each other. Teacher records on poster board or white board.

Materials/Notes

Poster board or white board for recording responses

Finish.

Content

Open Fist

The Open Fist activity could act as either an introduction or a follow-up to the main lesson on Trust and Power.

Ask students to pair up with someone next to, or sitting close to themselves, and then to decide who will be Person A and Person B.

Offer the following directions:

We're going to do an exercise called Open Fist. Person A-please hold up your dominant hand (whichever hand you write or throw with most often). Now make a fist as tight as you can, lower it again and hold it out in front of your Partner. Person B-You have 30 seconds, and your job is to get your person to open their fist. [Take care not to give any more instructions than that, since the point of this exercise is to reflect on our default patterns of getting our way, but you may want to add: Obviously, please don't hurt each other.]

GO!

Give them 30 seconds and notice what kinds of strategies students use. At the end of the 30 seconds:

Now switch roles. Person B-- make a fist as tight as you can and Person A has 30 seconds to get their partner to open up. Ready, GO!

After the time has expired, call them back to order and debrief using these questions:

• “Raise your hand if you were successful in getting your partner to open their hand.”
• “Raise your hand if your partner used some kind of coercion (use of force) to get your hand open? What were some other techniques? Trickery? Bribery? How many people tried ASKING their partner to open their hand? Do you feel differently about your partner when they ask, rather than just try to force?”
• “If your partner did actually ask you to open your hand, and you refused, why did you refuse? How many of you thought that it was part of the exercise that you had to keep your fist closed? The instructions were only to close your fist, not to keep it closed no matter what. And even if I had told you to keep it closed, why listen to me?”
• “What does this exercise say about our ideas of power and authority? Where do these ideas come from?"

Materials/Notes

NOTE: During the activity, keep an eye out to make sure no one is getting so carried away that an injury might result!